Current-collector.



F. E. CASE.

CURRENT COLLECTOR. APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 1, 190a.

Patented June 2, 1914 lnven fior: anECasg.

TED STATES PATENT ()FEIOE.

FRANK E. EASE, 0F SCHENECTADY, NEW YQRK, ASSIGNOR T0 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW. YORK.

CURRENT-COLLECTOR.

Specification ,of Trotters Patent.

Patented June 2, 1914.

Application filed August 1, 1906. Serial No, 328,685.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, FRANK E. Case, a citizen of the United States, residing at Schenectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Current-Collectors, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to electric railways and more especially to the apparatus carried by the vehicle for collecting electric current from a stationary conductor supported parallel to the roadway.

it is sometimes impracticable or impossil: i to employ a single type oi stationary conductor, that is either a third rail or an overhead conductor, throughout a system of trackage' over which the vehicle is to run. Accordingly it is the practice in such instances to provide one section of the roadway with one type of stationary conductor and another section with another type of conductor and furnish the vehicle with two or more collecting devices adapted to cooperate with the respective types of conductors.

When onset the collecting devices runs oil the end of its conductor or its function is no longer desired, it is necessary that it be withdrawn from its operative position so that it may not come in contact with stationary projections or objects positioned along the roadway.

The objects of my invention are to provide' an improved current collector, which will automatically assume retracted position in case any part breaks or fails to function properly, and to provide automatic means for both retracting and restoring the collector to operative position.

In the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, I have shown two overhead current collectors and a diagrammatic arrangement of pipes and controlling valves, embodying one form of my invention.

On electric locomotives and cars where the consumption of current is relatively large it is customary to rovide a collector 1 at each end of the vehic e and also two collector con stand in the positions indicated in the drawing so that springs 7 are put under tension to exert a pull upon the toggles in such mannor as to urge the contact shoe 3 upwardly. The lower members 5 are provided at their inner ends with intermeshing gears 5 whereby they are caused to move-up and down in unison, and below their fulcrums the levers are expanded into shellsor hoods for the purpose of protecting the ilot valves and levers located therebeneath. 11 order to provide good electrical connection between the collector shoe 3 and the pedestal 6 without interfering with the free movement of the toggle levers, the former are connected by flexible conductors 9. The collapsible arms 8 are fixed to short shafts 10 journaled in the bifurcated upper end of the pedestal 6 and to the center of the shafts are fixed short arms 11 which are connected by links 12 to a cross-head 13 carried at the upper end of a piston rod 14. The piston .rod is provided with a shoulder 15 which in elevated position engages a shoulder on the in side of the pedestal, so that it is arrested in proper position to sustain the arms 8 as shown with the springs 7 crossing somewhat below the dead centers thereof. The lower end of the rod 14 carries a piston 16 which is movable up and down in'a cylinder 18 at the lower end of the pedestal and a light spring 17 surrounds the rod 14 and thrusts against the top of the piston 16 and the shoulder on the inside of the pedestal so as to cooperate with the weight of the rod and piston and the parts carried thereby to move them downward positively despite any opposing friction whenever the air pressure is relieved from the lower side of the piston 16. The spring 17 may be omitted if desired since the only function performed thereby is to assure the downward movement of the piston when released from the upward pressure of the compressed air.

The lower end of the cylinder 18 is closed by a screw plug having delivery port therein through which compressed air is supplied to the cylinder by a pipe 19 connecting with a delivery port 20 of the collector controlling valve 2. .The controlling valve is connected by a pipe 21 with a suitable source of compressed air and has an exhaust port 22 normally closed by a slide valve 23 but adapted to be moved so as to connect the delivery port 20 with the exhaust port 22. The means for moving the slide valve 23 consists of a doubled ended piston 24 between the ends of which the slide valve is positioned and it is purposely left unpacked so that the compressed air supplied through pipe 21 may escape thereabout and establish balanced pressures on both ends thereof. The piston 24 is caused to move to the right or left by permitting the air at the right or left end thereof to escape therefrom so as to effect an unbalancing of pressures at the opposite ends. The escape of air from the ends of the piston 24 is manually controlled by a hand lever 25 pivoted upon the main valve and having two arms which overlie tappet valves 26 at the respective ends of the collector operating valve 2. The escape of air from the ends of the piston 24 is also automatically controlled by two pilot valves 27 and 28 located on opposite sides of the collector pedestal 6 and inversely connected to the opposite ends of the collector operating valve 2 by vent pipes 29 and 30. The pilot valves are alike and each comprises a simple valve box 31 bolted to the pedestal with a spring pressed valve 32 normally closing avent port 33. The valves 27 and 28 are provided with spring-pressed levers 34 and 35 which engage at their lower 'ends with the outer ends of the stems of thevalves 32.

' The upper ends'of the levers are provided with cam surfaces 34 and 35 which cooperate with projections 36, 37 carried by the lower arms 5 of the toggles. The cam surface 34' and the projection 36 are so disposed'that they will engage and trip pilot valve 27 whenever the collector-shoe 3 moves above a predetermined level asby passing off the end ofza conductor section, thereby allowing'the'a ir in the right hand end of the collector operating valve 2 to escape-causing the piston 24- and the slide valve 23 to move to the right, connecting the delivery port 20 with the exhaust port 22 and thereby permitting the air pressure in the collector cylinder 18 to exhaust and the collector to drop. The cam surface 35' and the projection 37 are so disposed that they will engage and trip pilot valve 28 whenever the co lector shoe 3 is forced below its normal withdrawn position, as by a projection arranged on the stationary conductor at the point at which it is desired to restore the collector to working position. The tripping of pilot valve 28 allows the air in the left hand end of the collector operating valve to escape through pipe 30, causing the piston -2 1 and the slide valve 23 to move to the left closing the exhaust port 22 and opening the delivery port 20 so that compressed air passes through pipe 19 to the cylinder 18 of the current collector and raises the shoe 3 into its normal running position.

The air pipes 19, 29 and 30 connect with both current collectors 1 and with both collector operating valves 2 so that both col lectors are simultaneously actuated by either collector operating valve, and in order to prevent the air exhausting from one valve through the other, a double check valve 38 is arranged in pipe 19. I

I do not desire to restrict myself to the particular form or arrangement of parts herein shown and described since it is evi-' dent that they may be changed and modified without departing from my invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,

1. The combination with a current collector for electric vehicles, of pneumatically actuated power means for raising and lowering said collector, and automatic means actuated by the movements of said collector for controlling the admission of the pressure fluid to the power means and the exhaustion therefrom. I

2. The combination with a current collector for electric vehicles, of pneumatically actuated power means for raising and lowering said collector, a controlling valve for regulating the supply and exhaustion of the pressure fluid, and two pilot valves actuated by the movements of the collector, for governing said controller valve.

3. The combination with a current collector for electric vehicles,of pneumatically operated power means for raising and lowering said collector, a controlling valve for 4. The combination with a current c'olmwm wm a E. EASE.

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